How to know if your latest project was worth it
So, you feel like you killed it on your latest project. Or… maybe you think it fell flat but you’re not sure? The best way to judge whether your latest campaign, project or collaboration worked is to have both a pre-project brief, and a post-mortem for reflection. We’ve talked about briefs before, but today we’re going to focus on how they go hand-in-hand with post-mortems to give you a crystal clear decision on whether you should embark on this endeavor again.
A post-mortem [in business, not in forensics] is an evaluation of a project’s performance after it’s completed to see how it measured up to the original goals. Ideally, a post-mortem is a counterpoint to a project brief, which is a plan laid out ahead of a project that defines what you’re trying to accomplish. It includes your goals of course but also items like the budget, content, who you’re targeting, etc. [download our MTD brief template here]. With a good brief, a post-mortem is straightforward, you literally run down the list and ask for each item, “What worked and what could have been stronger?”
While doing your post-mortem, start with the objective aka the business purpose of the project. Did you succeed or fall short? Did you meet your business goals? (Did you make money, drive sales, onboard subscribers, drive traffic, grow followers?) Yes or no? In the execution of the project, what do you think worked best in hitting that goal and what fell short?
In a macro sense, you’re evaluating if the entire project was worth your time, money and effort, and if it’s something good to replicate or if it’s better to toss out and move on. In a micro sense, you’re doing the same thing. Maybe the project ultimately didn’t work, but there were some tactics that did. Maybe you grew your audience but you didn’t drive sales. Or vice versa, maybe you did succeed overall, but there was also wasted time.
After you consider the “objective,” go down the list to “audience insights.” Did you hit your target audience or did you miss? Then, “deliverables.” Did the content turn out how you expected? And how did it play when it went out into the world? Did you see engagement or did the content fall flat? This is a great spot to work in the analytics from your digital platforms. Oftentimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in the numbers, but the numbers are only a part of the story, the qualitative side. In order to get the full picture, you need the quantitative side too -- the insights you’ll observe and record in the process of building your post-mortem.
For every project, for every organization, and for every influencer, there are things that go well and things that could be improved. If you are new to digital strategy and are putting yourself out there, we see you. This is tough work that requires strength and focus, no matter where you are in the process. Know that building post-mortems and project briefs into your workflow will help you refine and function more efficiently in the long run, even if they do take time in the short term.
If you’re ready to level up your workflow [yes, yes, yes!], here’s how to do it:
Start with a project brief. Before you can analyze how you did, you've got to know where you’re going. It’s also nearly impossible to evaluate something effectively when it’s a one-off [or if, for example, ONE of your Instagram posts takes off]. Start with a fresh new project, create a brief and go from there.
Execute against the plan with as much consistency as possible. Once you have established a plan using a brief, it’s essential to stick with it. Going rogue pretty much undermines the whole point of this exercise. When you make a plan, commit and find ways to hold yourself accountable.
Apply our ‘What worked and what could be stronger?’ mantra. One of our big rules at M.T. Deco is that nothing you do is wrong unless what you publish is inaccurate or offensive. For every creative endeavor, there are elements that work and things that could be stronger. As you build your post-mortem, ask that for each element [audience, content, deliverables] and then for the big picture items [business goals, time, budget].
Identify what you will change next time around. Once you’ve gathered all the information and written down your insights, dump it into a Google doc [ideal for team sharing] and clean it up. Ultimately what you want to pull out from it is guidance for the next projects. Would you do this again? Would you spend the same amount of money? What are the things you need to do differently the next time? Review with everyone involved.
Save your documents for future reference. It’s inevitable that you’ll forget the details from projects, both valuable and challenging, over the course of time. Archive them properly and bring them out year after year, and then continue to update them with fresh information and insights.
Lastly, know that the practice of setting out briefs and post-mortems is applicable to projects in both career and life. Doing home renovations? Build a brief to understand the scope, budget, and larger goals, and then afterward, measure how it went. Did you go over budget? Did you like your contractor? What worked, what could have been stronger? Taking the time to pause and reflect will always end up providing value over time.